Chair’s Final Notice Regarding KP

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CHAIR’S FINAL NOTICE

THE KIMBERLEY PROCESS

CERTIFICATION SCHEME IMPLEMENTATION

31 JANUARY 2003

Dear Colleagues,

Further to my Notice of 30 January 2003, the purpose of this Notice is to confirm the consensual position of colleagues regarding the implementation of the KPCS.

Interim measures are required to fulfil the KPCS mandate, pending the first Plenary of the Kimberley Process to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa on the 28-30th April 2003. Such measures are designed to accommodate the unique national procedures of colleagues in passing legislation and fulfilling other administrative requirements of the KPCS.

Based on a careful examination of the information provided so far and following intensive consultations with many colleagues, I have arrived at the following conclusion:

As per 1 February 2003, the following parties could be considered to have fulfilled all or most of the conditions to qualify as participant, as defined in Section I of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme document adopted at Interlaken.

Angola, Armenia, Australia, Belarus, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Canada, Central African Republic, Cote D’Ivoire, , Democratic Republic of Congo, European Community, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guyana, India, Israel, Japan, Republic of Korea, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Namibia, People’s Republic of China, Philippines, Russia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.

Further, Algeria, Brazil, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Hungary, North Korea, Norway, Romania and Venezuela having recently informed the Chair of their intention to become participants, are also required to ensure that all rough diamonds exported from their territories are accompanied by a duly validated temporary Kimberley Process Certificate.

In line with Section III par. (c) of the KPCS, all parties are required to ensure that no shipment of rough diamonds is imported from or exported to a non-Participant.

Equally, I recall Section VI (par.16) of the KPCS document, which establishes procedures whereby issues regarding the implementation can be raised and addressed through the Chair, who is to inform all Participants without delay about the said concern and enter into a dialogue on how to address the matter.

I am convinced that this consensual position goes a long way towards enabling all parties to strike an appropriate balance between the shared conviction to combat trade in conflict diamonds and the need to ensure that legitimate trade is not disrupted.

With warmest regards,

Abbey Chikane

Chairman

Kimberley Process